PRICED OUT OF THEIR HOME CITY

ASINGLE block of land at Blackmans Bay sold for almost $1m on Saturday when a buyer forked out $932,000 for the piece of prime land close to the beach and overlooking the River Derwent. In total, seven blocks on the Maryknoll site, formerly owned by a group of Catholic nuns, netted more than $5m.

The money will be used by the Presentation Sisters to build an additional 33 homes on the site to be used for affordable housing.

Affordable housing is rapidly becoming an oxymoron in Tasmania as the dream of owning a home is disappearing faster than Sandy Bay property listing.

There have been more $1m homes sold in Hobart than previously and, as Jarrad Bevan reported in the Sunday Tasmanian, the value of property in many suburbs across greater Hobart in the past two years has increased by more than the annual income of residents living in those suburbs. As an example, the median home values the 7019 postcode, which includes Oakdowns, Rokeby and Clarendon Vale, have shot up $163,000 over the past two financial years – or $81,500 annually – almost double the average annual income of residents ($48,248) in that postcode.

On paper that might sound great if you are selling your home, but if you still want to live in Hobart you will be forking out even more to buy another property.

Once such suburbs were places where younger couples could get their first home. Now it is even hard to find a rental property in the so-called “cheaper suburbs”.

Both the state and federal governments have tried to help first home buyers enter the market. They offered grants of $30,000 for first-home buyers building a home (with start date before June 30 next year) but that scheme closed in April.

While such programs have been a help, clearly they do little to make a home achievable when blocks of land alone far exceed the budgets of a young couple hoping to break into the real estate market.

In June greater Hobart’s median house price was $574,543. A couple would need a combined income close to $100,000 to service such a loan. A check of the real estate guide shows there are very few homes available in that price range – those that are, are snapped up within days.

Many first-home buyers are being forced further and further out of Hobart to buy or build a new home.

Sorell subdivisions are still popping up and towns well beyond the city fringes, such as New Norfolk and even Kempton, are booming. Poor public transport and fewer health services to these areas create more problems for governments as traffic congestion worsens and pressure builds on rural health infrastructure.

There is no quick fix in solving the problem of housing affordability, but governments must continue to try.

Tax reform is part of the answer and there needs to be more incentives for developers to build affordable housing.

There are not many like the nuns at Blackmans Bay who put people before profit.